A Stellar System Map for Exoplanets

Here we created a stellar map of 564 exoplanets systems from the latest database of confirmed exoplanets from the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia. The map helps to visualize the relative distance and location of exoplanets systems with respect to Earth using a flattened polar projection with a logarithmic distance scale. It uses standard celestial coordinates where the declination is zero through the plane (North points outside the image). This version is a test draft with a lot of white space that will be later filled with more information and color, but as is, it might be simpler to use by others. The map was generated automatically from the exoplanets data using IDL. It is something to enjoy and explore as a 30"x30" poster size (click image below for the 6000x6000 PNG file). The final versions will be available on December 5, 2011 as references for the Habitable Exoplanets Catalog.